Station Crew Busy With Science and Maintenance

The Expedition 24 crew members were busy with a variety of science experiments and maintenance activities Wednesday as they orbited the Earth aboard the International Space Station.

In the Japanese Kibo module, Flight Engineer Doug Wheelock set up equipment in the Fluid Physics Experiment Facility for a study of the Marangoni effect, which is the flow of liquids caused by surface tension.

Expedition 24 Flight Engineer Fyodor Yurchikhin works with High Definition Video camera equipment in the Zvezda service module of the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

Flight Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson changed out hardware and removed samples from the Multi-user Droplet Combustion Apparatus, which is part of the Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) in the U.S. Destiny laboratory. The CIR is an experiment facility that helps researchers study how different materials combust in the microgravity environment aboard the station and can be operated by crew members or remotely by researchers on Earth.

Flight Engineer Shannon Walker analyzed water samples from the station’s Water Recovery System.

Commander Alexander Skvortsov worked in the Russian segment of the station monitoring its systems and performing routine maintenance activities.

Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko gathered and stowed unneeded equipment and trash in the ISS Progress 38 cargo craft that is set to be undocked from the station Tuesday and deorbited on Sept. 6. Its departure will free the aft docking port of the Zvezda service module for the arrival of the ISS Progress 39 cargo craft, scheduled for liftoff Sept. 8 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

All systems aboard the station continue to function well following a series of spacewalks by Wheelock and Caldwell Dyson to remove and replace a failed pump module.